Rail Pass. Green pass. Nozumi Shinkansen

This time round, we were thinking of getting a Green pass for first class comfort. And because we could do with more space.

The Green Pass costs about $800 for 14 days. The regular pass costs $590. Over $200 difference.

BUT, I just realised that other than the long distance between Osaka and Tokyo, other short distance do not offer green cars. So there is no call for a Green pass. The Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto-Nara routes are so short that a regular pass will do.

Also the Rail Pass does not allow travel on the fastest Shinkansen, the Nozomi.

A Green car ticket on a Nozomi Shinkansen will cost over Y10,000, raising the overall cost of a trip from Tokyo Haneda Airport to Osaka to about Y20,000.

Trip will also take just over 200 minutes (about 3.5 hours).

Without using the Nozomi Shinkansen, it would be about Y15,000 and it would be covered by the Green Rail Pass (no extra fare).

But the trip will take closer to 4 hours.

Return to Japan (2016)

We are planning to return to Japan.

And because we haven't been to Osaka in the last two trip, this time we will aim to spend some time there. Especially after seeing this article "20 things to do in Osaka".

And because, the first city we visited in 1998 was Osaka.

From Osaka, we can go on to visit Kyoto, Nara, and Kobe.


Haven't been to Kobe. We'll eat at a McDonald's there and tell people we've eaten beef in Kobe.